Synamedia “slams the hammer down” on piracy with OTT ServiceGuard

With its new product, the software provider says that for the first time, the media and entertainment industry can systemically address the inherent weaknesses that make it easy for pirates to not only steal content but also entire OTT services, including redistributing directly from the service provider’s content delivery network (CDN). By tackling OTT piracy head on, Synamedia says operators, content owners and rights holders protect their content investments, and video service providers can cut infrastructure costs while creating the opportunity to generate additional revenues.

OTT ServiceGuard is being marketed as the first solution on the market to protect content across all open platforms – whether mobile, browsers, or smart TVs – and the first to extend the service protection to the CDN itself, stopping pirates from stealing content at the point of distribution. With video service providers facing increased pressure from rights holders to fight piracy, Synamedia is confident that the new solution makes it possible to securely distribute content on open platforms by validating that only legitimate subscribers and applications are granted access and receive content.

To protect against common methods used by pirates to steal content and an OTT service, OTT ServiceGuard gives each client a unique identity that is not cloneable and allocates secure keys for signing service requests, ensuring all client messages are validated for their authenticity and origin. Synamedia assured that the solution will be continuously enhanced as operational security team detects new vulnerabilities.

“We have set ourselves a challenge of educating the industry about the scale of OTT piracy. Many rights holders and operators mistakenly believe that current approaches – including DRM, client hardening and concurrency limits – provide adequate content protection,” said Nitsan Baider, director of product management for security solutions at Synamedia. “Without sugar coating the truth, they are mistaken. Up to now, technologies have barely made a dent in OTT piracy because the protocol is broken. Synamedia OTT ServiceGuard is designed to safeguard against those risks.”

Added Jennifer Kent, vice president of analyst Parks Associates: “It has become far too easy for pirates to gain access to high quality content and redistribute it at the expense of the video service provider. Protecting against this weakness and creating a differentiated offering with protection at the forefront will help companies securely distribute content.” Rapid TV News